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I’ve always been fascinated by the mobility computing from a consumer perspective. My passion goes back to the 90’s when I owned 2 PockePCs (a Compaq and a Casio Cassiopeia with Windows CE 2.11), a Palm Pre 2, A Psion Revo (best smartphone keyboard ever), several Windows Mobile Phones and an Android device.

I have to be frank, when I first looked @ the first Windows Phone model, I was not that impressed. The metro style was kind of strange, considering where the other devices (iOS, Android, WebOS) where heading to. But when I started to use it, I realized the full potential. And I became addicted…

I got this beautiful present for Christmas (probably my family is VERY aware of my addiction ), which was a Nokia Lumia 800. Superb phone, stunning display, lots of memory. But it doesn’t fit well.

What I mean is that I’m not a big fan of big phones (the Samsung Galaxy Note is like a giant phone to me, it’s not even a phone!). Technology is trying to “micro-do” everything since the Motorola 8700 and we’re going back to where we were before. Even though I see the value of them, I just don’t like to idea to carry a huge phone in my pocket. So my choice went to the Nokia Lumia 710.

I got the device yesterday and the price is at least a half of the normal Smartphone prizes, no matter which OS you like. Which is a good start…

When you lift the device for the first time, it’s seems like you’re handling an empty case, it’s just super lightweight. The form factor, something some people underestimate, it’s great. It perfectly fits in your hand. The USB connector is not in an awkward position like the Lumia 800. And it has buttons, instead of touch ones, which is great for a guy like me who was used to like the old IBM keyboards doing a lot of noise when you were typing.

Of course it lacks something: memory is only 8GB, the display is not even comparable with the Lumia 800 (TFT VS AMOLED, but the Gorilla Glass is good to have), the battery is only that powerful (although it’s removable, which is a good thing) and the camera is 5MP compared to the 810’s 8MP (which is ok for me. I don’t pretend to take stunning pictures from a phone).

You can have a look at this comparison I found (but there are plenty more out there):

I finally found the device I was looking for and I have no plans in changing it for anything. It reminds me, in a way, the HTC Mozart, one of the first Windows Phone I had, which was a great phone.

So overall I’m very satisfied with this purchase (at least this one I won’t regret it) and, if you want to see some pictures or have more info about my experience, just let me know in the comments box and I’ll definitely share them here.

And lastly, YOU, what Windows Phone do you have or you’re planning to buy?

if you know me, you’d know that I don’t post on Apple that much. Because basically I don’t like it. That’s it. It’s something that go way back till the 80’s when everybody was saying “I have an Apple, it’s better than a PC” or “Apple is better for graphics”. So I tried to keep these assumptions out of my head and “forced” myself to do it. Only once..

But there’s a reason for that.

A friend of mine showed me this yesterday and I was like WOW !!!

Bing is getting better and better, hopefully we will see this in Windows & Windows Phone

As I changed a lot of Smartphones throughout the years, of course my needs where going side by side with the technology evolution.

So I remember I was using the same old headphones with that long cable that was very disturbing and of course uncomfortable.

Then the Bluetooth headsets came to market and to me, that was like a cable-free life !

Of course there were issues at the beginning, calls dropped, pairing not successful and other stuff you probably experienced yourself.

Then, I guess it was 2 years ago, I bought my first Jabra one and I fell in love with it. It was the old Jabra BT 150 but then, after a massive use of it, the battery was gone. So I got into the market and searched for new stuff and I realized the Bluetooth headsets’ market did a big jump ahead in terms of connectivity, easy of use, battery life, etc.

So went to the site, discovered the Jabra Extreme, ordered it and started to use it in less than a week. And I was astonished by the number of features compared to my old one (and the others I saw in various shops).

First: Connectivity. You can pair it with 2 mobile phone simultaneously. Of course if you pair it with one phone (in my case, a Windows Phone) I can also use the voice dial feature (which is really cool, by the way !). Overall. you can pair with 8 devices (not sure if anyone will use this feature but, hey, it’s cool!)

Second: charging. Finally, you can use your USB port to charge. It also has a very little AC power supply and the car recharger included. It’s micro-USB so….

Third: Battery life. I never had the battery dead. Ever. Yes, this comes along with the fact that you can charge it almost everywhere.

Fourth: it’s a Jabra! You have Support, you can get the latest firmware, it’s robust, small and the audio quality is great.

So, if you are in need to change your Bluetooth headsets, I’d really recommend this one !

As you can see, there are some news regarding this topic but I wanted to highlight this particular one, which would be useful to a lot of you I guess:

Global Publisher Program

“As Windows Phone 7 continues to evolve as a platform, we will continue to expand the opportunities for developers. One area of focus for us is reaching developers in more countries and regions around the world. To that end, I’m pleased to announce today a new Global Publisher Program. This program will enable developers worldwide to work with a Global Publisher to submit apps to the Windows Phone Marketplace. Developers from countries and regions all over the world can now submit apps and games to the Windows Phone Marketplace.

How It Works: Publishers will submit applications to Marketplace on behalf of their developer customers, according to pricing and service terms defined by the Publisher. For example, During TechEd Middle East in Dubai, Microsoft Senior Vice President, Developer Division, S. Somasegar announced the launch of Yalla Apps, a new regional Windows Phone application publishing portal managed by Global Publisher, Prototype Interactive. Yalla Apps enables developers to submit and publish Windows Phone 7 applications from the developer community across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. We are working with additional Global Publishers in other regions to bring the same opportunity to more developers around the world.”

I’m here at the International Malpensa Airport, waiting to be called for my flight. I’ll get another @ Frankfurt and then directly to Seattle. Yes, it’s a long flight but definitely worthy. The reason: the MVP Global Summit. The goal: gather all the MVPs from all around the World and interact with them (fun parts are also provided :)). I participated to a lot of Summits but everytime is a new emotion, a new challenge. I’ll have the chance to meet not only MVPs from the Region I represent, but also other Influencers and of course a lot of US and International colleagues. It’s a unique experience to be there altogether and interact and discuss with the Product Teams, having roundtables, being involved in early product lifecycle phases and so forth. I just can’t wait to be there and I know some MVPs are already there so wait for me for all the fun, will you? 🙂